Research on environmental-decision making is usually based on utilitarian models, which imply that people's decisions are only influenced by the outcomes. This research provides evidence for values and moral positions that reflect nonconsequentialist rather than consequentialist views. In doing this, this article refers to “sacred values,” which are values that are seen as not-substitutable and nontradable. Two studies were designed to examine evidence for sacred values and their role on act versus omission choices within the environmental domain. The studies revealed (...) that sacred values were closely associated with preferences for actions, trade-off reluctance, deontological focus, and position of moral universalism. The results suggest that it is important to account for sacred values and nonconsequentialist views in environmental decision-making research. (shrink)

Consumer indirect misbehavior in access-based consumption is a significant challenge for enterprises. The literature is in short of a deep understanding of the antecedent conditions of consumer indirect misbehavior in this context and limited by inconsistent findings, calling for developing a holistic and integrative theoretical framework. This study integrates three commonly used theoretical perspectives in the consumer misbehavior literature to present holistic archetypes of consumer indirect misbehavior formation. In accordance with this theoretical objective, we adopted an emerging approach for configurational (...) analysis, i.e., fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis, to analyze the complex combinations of six influencing factors. We collected data using a scenario-based field survey of 264 experienced consumers of a popular bike-sharing service in China. The scenarios were developed based on relevant literature and a Delphi study. The fsQCA results reveal multiple configurations for high and low levels of consumer misbehavior intention. Specifically, perceived benefits and moral definition play important roles, while the effect of sanctions is highly dependent on other factors. These results lead us to derive three theoretical propositions for antecedent conditions leading to consumers’ indirect misbehavior intentions in access-based consumption. This study enriches our understanding of the causes of misbehavior and provides novel insights for management practitioners to take appropriate countermeasures. (shrink)

Product counterfeiting, a serious problem throughout the world, is particularly challenging for luxury brands, which often have simple designs and a value that depends largely on buyers' perceptions. This study incorporates the concept of customer value into an investigation of the anticounterfeiting strategies. Both hedonic and utilitarian values positively influence customer loyalty toward luxury brands. As a means to strengthen customer values, legal and product strategies positively influence customers' hedonic value, whereas communication and product strategies positively influence their utilitarian value. (...) The managerial implications of these findings and directions for further research are discussed. (shrink)

The debate around ethical consumption is often characterised by discussion of its numerous failures arising from complexity in perceived trade-offs. In response, this paper advances a pragmatist understanding of the role and nature of trade-offs in ethical consumption. In doing so, it draws on the central roles of values and value in consumption and pragmatist philosophical thought, and proposes a critique of the ethical consumer as rational maximiser and the cognitive and utilitarian discourse of individual trade-offs to understand how sustainable (...) consumption practices are established and maintained. An in-depth qualitative study is conducted employing phenomenological interviews and hermeneutic analysis to explore the consumption stories of a group of ethically minded consumers. The research uncovers the location of value within a fluid, yet habitual, plurality of patterns, preferences, morals, identities and relationships. Its contribution is to propose that consumer perception of value in moral judgements is represented by an overall form of aggregate personal advantage, which lacks conscious reflection and delivers a phenomenological form of value rooted in habits, reflecting a pragmatist representation of value unified as a ‘consummatory experience’. (shrink)

This study aims to analyze what drives and prevents the purchasing of eco-friendly products across different consumer groups and develops a conceptual model embracing the positive altruistic, positive ego-centric, and negative ego-centric antecedents of eco-friendly product purchase intention and behavior. We empirically validate the conceptual model for green and non-green consumers. Data are analyzed using structural equation modeling and multi-group analysis of the two groups. The results confirm the relevance of the determining factors in the model and show significant differences (...) in eco-friendly product purchasing patterns between green and non-green consumers. Altruistic motives are more important for green than for non-green consumers. Negative ego-centric motives affect the purchase intentions of non-green consumers more than the intentions of green consumers, whereas the impact of negative motives on behavior is stronger for green than for non-green consumers. The first contribution of this paper is the development and testing of a parsimonious model of eco-friendly products purchasing that embraces both positive and negative antecedents, which have been theoretically suggested in the past but have rarely been empirically tested together. The second contribution of this study is that it develops insight into the specific antecedents of eco-friendly products purchasing for green and non-green consumers to assess potential similarities and differences in eco-friendly products purchasing process, the hypothesized antecedents, their impact on eco-friendly products purchase intention and behavior, and the intention–behavior relation. (shrink)